Range hoods provide for the treatment of heat and fumes generated during cooking. These kitchen appliances are frequently provided with light sources to provide for illumination of a cook-top or other cooking appliance located below the range hood. Various configurations of the light sources can be used in order to provide sufficient illumination for a user during cooking.
For example, a range hood or an over the range microwave oven with a built in hood may include several light sources located along a bottom surface in order to light up a cook top. Such lighting may be important to the user as the cook top will typically have several heating elements positioned on a horizontal surface for the cooking of food contained in pots and pans. Proper lighting allows the user to monitor the cooking of the food and determine when the food has been properly cooked.
In range hood applications, LED lights have certain advantages as compared to incandescent or other types of lights. Such advantages can include e.g., resistance to vibration, long life expectancy, relatively low energy use compared to the lumen output, durability for repeated on-off switching, and compactness. In addition, where more light is needed, LED lights can be grouped together to increase the intensity of the light output.
However, there are certain challenges to using LED lights in a kitchen appliance. LED lights can produce a significant amount of heat, and their use in a range hood can also expose them to heat generated during cooking. For example, where LED lights are positioned in a range hood to provide lighting above the cook top, heat coming from the cook top and/or an associated oven will rise up and through the range hood. Depending upon the placement of the LED lights, this heat can provide further temperature problems for LED lights by advancing the temperature increase during use.
Unfortunately, LED lights and are susceptible to poor operation if their temperature rises too high. More particularly, there is generally a narrow range of temperatures at which LED lights can efficiently produce their maximum light output or most efficient light output. In addition, if temperature elevates above a certain range, the LED lights can be damaged or even destroyed. As such, a range hood must provide for proper thermal protection for the LED lights and associated electronics such as a printed circuit board (PCB) during operation.
Accordingly, a system for the thermal protection of LED light modules and associated electronics in a kitchen range hood would be useful. A system that can detect the temperature of the LED light module and take one or more steps to prevent an unsafe or deleterious temperature condition would be beneficial. Such a system that can be readily incorporated within the overall design of a range hood would also be very useful.